Two brothers held in robbery of three safes from Southbridge business

Thursday

Sep 4, 2014 at 9:26 PMSep 5, 2014 at 8:13 AM

By Brian Lee TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

SOUTHBRIDGE — A man allegedly told detectives he believed his former employer had "screwed" him of unemployment benefits, so he enlisted his brother to help break into the machinery company and steal three safes, police said.

Charles Krasnecky, 35, of 142 Eastford Road, and Allen A. Krasnecky, II, 49, of 3145 South Main St., Palmer, were each ordered held on $10,000 bail Thursday in Dudley District Court.

Both men were charged with breaking and entering a building during the nighttime to commit a felony, larceny valued at more than $250, malicious destruction of property valued at less than $250, breaking into a depository and larceny valued at more than $250.

They return to court for pretrial hearings Oct. 3.

About 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, detectives with a warrant searched 142 Eastford Road to look for items that had been stolen from a breaking-and-entering incident the previous day at Lavallee Machinery, Inc., 831 Main St., the police report said.

When police arrived, they found the brothers in the garage trying to open a large safe, investigators said.

The men were secured without incident, police said.

The younger brother claimed that his former employer, specifically Randy Dion, had falsified records and presented them at an unemployment hearing, the report said.

Charles Krasnecky said they used a company forklift to place the third and largest safe in the pickup truck, the report said.

The largest safe fell out of the truck a short distance away, so the brothers returned to the machinery company to get the forklift to place it back onto the truck, Charles Krasnecky told police.

They left the forklift in the street.

Charles Krasnecky told investigators two of the safes did not contain anything they wanted, so they dumped them into a pond at Dennison and Eastford roads.

One of the safes contained a diamond ring, the report said.

The brothers damaged two of the safes and the company's garage door, police said.

In an interview, Police Chief Daniel R. Charette commended the detectives' work. He said the Department of Public Works helped retrieve evidence with a backhoe from the pond.

Contact Brian Lee at brian.lee@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BleeTG